The truck used in the deadly attack on a Berlin Christmas market earlier this month.Reuters

The Polish driver whose hijacked truck was used to crash into a Berlin Christmas market was shot in the head several hours before the attack and could not have tried to prevent it as previously thought, according to a report.

Lukasz Urban, 37, suffered knife wounds and a gunshot to the head in the truck cabin about 2½ to 3½ hours before the 8 p.m. attack on Dec. 19, Reuters reported, citing the German newspaper Bild.

Ariel Zurawski, the owner of a Polish trucking company, shows the last photo taken of his cousin and driver, Lukasz Urban, who was apparently the first victim of the attack in Berlin.AP

The attack by 24-year-old Tunisian Anis Amri left 12 people dead and dozens injured. He was shot dead four days later by Italian police after a Europe-wide manhunt.

Berlin’s Interior Minister Andreas Geisel has said that Urban had “quite probably” tried to disrupt the attack by seizing control of the steering wheel, causing the truck to veer and stop when it was about 200 feet into the 1,300-foot-long market. It was believed Urban was shot during the struggle.

A crowdfunding campaign started by British truck driver Dave Duncan raised over $170,000 for Urban’s family.

Calls also grew this week in Germany for the government to posthumously honor Urban, Agence France-Presse reported.

More than 33,000 people had signed an online petition at Change.org by Monday afternoon, demanding that President Joachim Gauck award Urban the Federal Cross of Merit, the highest civilian honor.

The Change.org petition said that “according to current reports, the autopsy shows that he struggled with the perpetrator and was severely injured and eventually killed by him.”

“With this heroic act, he probably saved many lives … For this bravery, he deserves Germany’s highest decoration.”

Opposition Greens party lawmaker Omid Nouripour also called on Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier to honor Urban with the national Order of Merit.